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Friday, 26 May 2017

From Manchester to Jerusalem: The limits of Trump’s terror narrative

There was nothing wrong in Trump offering his condolences and sympathy. That was entirely appropriate. The attack in Manchester was a wicked, senseless crime.What made me uncomfortable was the way Trump used terrorism to avoid confronting the complicated, compromised and messy reality in which we live, especially in the Middle East.For Trump, in all the speeches he made this week in the region, terror appeared to be the only cause of the problem, and its defeat would be sure to bring peace. If only it were true. Trump’s narrative lacked understanding, substance and integrity. And that went for terror in Manchester as well as the Middle East.